Hello all, this is an odd question, but my programmers would rather be safe than sorry. Are the surfaces of the rocket/Cargo ship at all reflective? I’m pretty confident the answer is “no,” but it would be useful to know with confidence.
Thanks
Not an odd question at all!
They’re polycarbonate surfaces. The Rocket has its color on the inside (a Pantone light gray). As for the Cargo Ship, I’m not 100% on that but I’d be looking at the color being on a vinyl print stuck on the back of the panels. Either way, the outer surface is polycarbonate. And polycarbonate can be somewhat reflective, depending on lighting. However, there are vision targets of retroreflective tape–those are VERY reflective, not just somewhat. You should be able to spot those regardless of the rest of the target area.
If you want to do a test, obtain some polycarbonate (Lexan) and tape it onto your Rocket/ Cargo Ship units. That’ll give you some idea of what you’ll be dealing with.
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It depends on what sensor you’re using in considering if something is reflective enough for a reading/noise.
As far as reflectivity in regards to cameras/lights, I suggest throwing together a few parts and trying it with your hardware, as it’s most likely going to depend on those.
In terms LIDAR use, the polycarbonate sections, without other components behind them, are not very reflective (e.g. the low, bumper section of the cargo ship). The polycarbonate alone is not enough for LIDAR to get a reading. We were using the LIDAR Lite 3 in out tests.
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You can find images of the field illuminated by a green led ring here:
https://frc-qa.firstinspires.org/qa/44
Expect quite a lot of glare in both visible and infrared light.
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Thanks for the helpful feedback!